We Are The Jews

Anti-Semitic or Misunderstood?

Michael Jackson is becoming embroiled in more legal issues. This time it is over the custody of his children and it looks like some of his anti-Semitic remarks from the past are catching up with him.

He has always had a high turnover of disgruntled managers, advisors, spokespersons, security personnel and employees, but Jackson’s life appears to be rapidly unraveling. An onslaught of lawsuits and the forced closure of his Neverland Ranch by California’s State Labor Commissioner have dogged the pop star.

Dieter Wiesner, Jackson’s ex-manager, really turned up the heat when he released a phone message he says his former client left him back in 2003. The message was aired on Good Morning America and has caused a bit of controversy. In the tape attributed to Jackson he rants about the Jews saying, “They suck – they’re like leeches, I’m so tired of it. They start out the most popular person in the world, make a lot of money, big house, cars, and everything, end up with, penniless. It is a conspiracy. The Jews do it on purpose.”

Perhaps that is the reason why Jackson has moved to the Middle Eastern country of Bahrain. It could be a dashing escape to the safety of a Muslim country, the only place where he could be safe from this vile conspiracy. It wouldn’t be the first time he has sought help from Muslims. In late 2003 and early 2004 he briefly retained the radical separatist group, Nation of Islam (NOI) to handle his security, but he couldn’t take the criticism that he received for this. He eventually blamed them for his legal troubles and canned them.

This brief alliance leads me to wonder why anti-Semitism has grown in the African-American community. After all, many Jews took a leading role in the civil rights movement during the sixties and some even gave their lives for it.

The current wave of hatred for the Jews is extremely pathological and if you have the stomach for it, I would invite you to visit this link to a website published by admirers of the Nation of Islam called, “Blacks and Jews”. While they are not endorsed by the NOI, their site has numerous links to the NOI and supports them enthusiastically.

Getting back to Michael Jackson, I can’t conclude this post without mentioning his most notorious anti-Semitic incident. Back in 1995 Jackson set off a firestorm of criticism with the release of his song, “They Don’t Care About Us”. The lyrics where sharply worded;

“…Jew me, Sue me
Everybody do me
Kick me, Kike me…”

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was relentless in its criticism and Jackson was forced to issue an apology. On June 22 of that year he wrote the ADL saying, “I acknowledge that I seriously offended some people which was never my intention and for that I am deeply sorry... I have come to understand over the past days that these words are considered anti-Semitic...I sincerely hope that anyone offended by my words will forgive me for not recognizing this sooner.”

However, Jackson’s publicists soon came up with a better idea. They decided that the lyrics were actually meant to condemn bigotry against the Jews! The administrator of some small Israeli fan sites for Michael Jackson amusingly wrote, “Michael, I wanna tell you how proud I am of you as a Jew for writing this anti-racist, amazing song!”

I have to admit that it was quite a feat for Jackson to write such an anthem against racism when he claimed that he didn’t even realize that those words were considered to be anti-Semitic in the first place. LOL

It must be frustrating to harbor anti-Semitic feelings and yet be afraid to express those thoughts freely. I would imagine that it would reinforce the paranoia of such conspiracy theories.